Tuesday, May 12, 2015

"Voting me out is like taking Lionel Messi out of a crucial game"- Minority Leader

Minority Leader has ridiculed attempts by some constituents to vote him out in the upcoming primaries of the New Patriotic Party.

He told Joy FM's Evans Mensah, Monday, the thought of voting him out of Parliament is similar to taking a Lionel Messi out of a crucial game and introducing former Hearts of Oak player Don Bortey.

The Suame MP has been criticised severally by some disgruntled constituents who claim Kyei-Mensah Bonsu has done little to improve life in the constituency.

The MP got into Parliament since 1997 and has sworn to retain the seat in the upcoming 2016 elections.

He must, however clear the first hurdle by winning the internal party primaries.

He is being contested by four other aspirants, with one nicknamed homeboy being his biggest contender.

Luv FM's Erastus Asare Donkor, who spoke to some constituents in Suame, reported there is a groundswell of opposition to the Minority Leader's bid to contest for the fifth time.

According to him, three out of five of the constituents would not want him to contest. They would rather Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu gave way for fresh blood.

A few of them, however, said that the work of a Parliamentarian is not so much of his ability to bring development to the area but rather his proficiency in getting legislative work in Parliament done.

They would rather the incumbent MP is retained.Supporting the minority view of his constituents, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu expressed surprise that any MP aspirant would go promising development projects.

He said such promises are only a demonstration of people's misunderstanding of what the job of an MP is.

At best, the Minority Leader said an MP can be agents of development and facilitate projects but cannot and should not claim credit for such projects.

He said even as MP, he has facilitated a number of developmental projects, including, 26 completed schools, ten other schools which are under construction, market centres, health facilities, provision of transformers and bulbs, grading of street etc but cannot claim credit for these projects.

Mensah-Bonsu called on the electorate to retain longstanding MPs in Parliament, including Alban Bagbin, as a way of maintaining institutional memory in Parliament.